Greenepace has been hit with a huge fine for breaking electoral law in the United Kingdom.
The eco-warriors were forced to cough up £30,000 ($38,000) by campaign regulators after they were found to have illegally tried to influence the 2015 general election.
Prohibited campaign activities the group was found guilty of included sailing a fleet of boats around the Welsh coast to protest fishing policy, and a massive anti-fracking poster campaign.
Greenpeace was caught out by the Electoral Commission for breaking a transparency law which requires big-spending campaign organisations to declare how much cash they are ploughing into influencing public opinion.
Campaign activities are especially closely regulated around major elections, which come with extra rules that Greenpeace failed to follow.
Investigators found that Greenpeace spent at least £99,000 ($127,000) without telling the authorities – a breach of the law.
In a press release early Wednesday, Electoral Commission officials announced that they had levied the fine which Greenpeace paid in full.
Fellow environmentalists at Friends of the Earth were also found to have broken rules by spending £24,000 under the radar to help bolster Greenpeace’s activities. They were fined £1,000.
An Electoral Commission spokesman said: “Non-party campaigners are vital to a healthy democracy and we encourage their active participation during campaign periods; however, where a significant amount of money is being spent on campaigning it is right that voters can see who is spending that money and what they are campaigning for. “